My baby won't take a bottle

[HannahR98]

Hi, my baby boy is 3months and has been breastfed since birth. I was expressing for the first month and a half and then he just wouldn't take the bottles. I then didn't express over Christmas and now I really want to start expressing and getting him on bottles too but he cries a lot when trying. I've heard for me not to do it so he can't smell my breasts so my boyfriends tried and my aunty but he just won't have it. Has anyone had this and know any ideas/ the best way forward?

Have you tried going out and leaving them to it? That sometimes works.

Both of mine were bottle refusers but would take a cup if I wasn't there.

Which size teat are you trying them with?

It's not usual if you are BFing and using bottles fir them to prefer one method over the other either. It's nothing that you've done wrong.

Thankyou I will try and go out for an hour and see if he will take it while I'm out. He feeds every hour usually so hopefully should work just wanting to get started with it before I go back to work in July/August

I had this issue with my LO at around 4 months. No matter what we did or what brand of bottle we used she just wasn’t interested. unfortunately it took consistently offering the bottle for months before she was interested in it.

I would put her in her swing so she wasn’t trying to eat me instead and that seemed to help. I’ve also seen other people recommend warming the teat up in hot water before offering to baby. Good luck!

just wanting to get started with it before I go back to work in July/August

How old will they be then @HannahR98?

I went back with my bottle refusers at 10 and 9 months. I fed at wake up, pick up and bedtime and the odd feed in the night and they had an occasional cup of milk during the day.

Also, feeding every hour can be normal but it can also be a sign of Tongue Tie.

Have a read of the link and see if they have any symptoms.

If they don't, it might be worth talking to a BFC on one of the BFing Helplines about hourly feeding, bottle refusal and she will also help you to come up with a plan about returning to work

Thanks. Yes I've warmed the bottle under hot water but havnt tried warming the teat so will try that too. He will be 9months when I go back I'm only thinking of working 3 days. How many milk feeds are babies usually on around that time?

I've checked about his feeding they have said if can be normal because he sleeps really well in the night so sort of making up for it and sometimes can ho 2 hours or more if napping/out of the house

At 9 months they'll be fine with feeding 3 times in the day. BF babies tend to take the same amount whether they feed hourly or 3 times. They will also be fine using a cup instead of a bottle if you find it easier with cups.

I'd definitely ring one of the Helplines to talk this through though

I have done thanks, that who had advised me to go out the room and have someone else do the feeds but so far hasn't worked but I will
Try going out of the house

It might be worth getting your DP and your DA to read How to Bottle Feed the BF Baby.

I'm new to these terms what are a DP and DA?

Sorry, Mumsnet is riddled with acronyms, I think it's to Maher typing faster.

DO is your Darling Partner and DA is your Darling Aunt.

There's a list of Mumsnet Acronyms here

*make typing faster